Saw jig for medical purposes

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a saw guide for medicinal purposes, with a handle and a sawblade guide element mounted on the handle to receive and guide a sawblade, and where the sawblade guide element consisting of a frame mounted on the handle and a guide recess for the sawblade, mounted rotatably in the frame can be secured on the material being sawed and can be adjusted in the position fixed at various notches on the saw material. To create a saw guide for medical purposes which is simple to handle and which ensures exact and precisely positioned guidance of the sawblade, the invention proposes that the frame is configured as a circle segment open on one side, into which the guide recess, which has an essentially circular base body, can be inserted in a form-locking connection and on the base body a stud is configured extending radially outward and at least one essentially vertical slit for receiving the sawblade is configured in the stud.

This application is a continuation of pending International Patent Application No. PCT/EP03/00813 filed Jan. 28, 2003 which designates the United States and claims priority of pending German Application No. 102 05 799 filed Feb. 13, 2002.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a saw guide for medical purposes, with a handle and a sawblade guide element mounted on the handle to receive and guide a sawblade, and where the sawblade guide element consisting of a frame mounted on the handle and a guide recess for the sawblade, mounted rotatably in the frame, can be secured on the material being sawed and can be adjusted in the position fixed at various notches on the saw material.

Saw guides are used to guide the sawblade of the saw in a sawing procedure at an exactly calculated angle to the saw material that is to be sawed. Such an exact guidance of the sawblade is particularly important with saw guides for medicinal purposes when, for instance in Hallux valgus operating procedures to remove stress deformations in the region of the large toe, bones must be cut by means of a saw.

A generic saw guide for medical purposes is described, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,724 A. In this familiar saw guide, the sawblade guide element consists of a frame that can be secured on the material to be sawed, a goniometer connected with the frame, and a sawblade guide that can be movably secured on the goniometer by means of a rotation arm. This familiar saw guide allows the adjustment of various saw notches, but the saw guide is fixed on the saw material; yet, this known device consists of very many separately adjustable components, which, on the one hand, complicate the fixing and adjustment and, on the other hand, by their reciprocal play, make difficult an exact guidance of the sawblade.

Another fork saw guide for medical purposes, known in the practice of the Hallux valgus operating procedure, can be secured by means of a wire on the bones to be treated. The fork-shaped sawblade guide allows the sawblade to be directed, but the surgeon must determine and hold the angle settings himself, so that a precise formation of a saw cutting procedure, for instance one of wedge shape, is hardly practicable.

The invention therefore has the aim of providing a saw guide for medical purposes that is simple to operate and ensures an exact, precisely located direction of the sawblade.

This aim is fulfilled by means of the invention in that the frame is configured as a circle segment open on one side, into which the guide recess, which has an essentially circular-shaped base body, can be inserted in a form-locking connection and on the base body a stud is configured extending radially outward and at least one essentially vertical slit for receiving the sawblade is configured in the stud.

By means of the inventive design, the surgeon for the first time has a saw guide available which ensures a constantly exact and precisely located direction of the sawblade and which allows the adjustment of various cutting positions while maintaining the position of the frame fixed to the material being sawed.

The slit configured in the stud for receiving the sawblade extends advantageously as far as the middle of the base body.

To allow also the insertion of a sawblade with limited saw teeth in the guiding slit of the guide recess, without having the saw teeth wedged into the saw guide, the slit is configured to be wider in the area of the saw teeth of the sawblade.

The angle of aperture of the frame configured in the shape of an open circle segment is less than 180 degrees in order to ensured a guiding position of the guide recess in the frame; in which position the frame surrounds the guide recess by more than half of its peripheral surface. The angle of aperture is advantageously 60 degrees.

In order to be able to guide and position the guide recess in the frame, at least one guide element and at least one stop element are positioned on the frame. According to a practical embodiment, in the radially outward-facing peripheral surface of the base body at least one groove is mounted on the frame for receiving one guide element at a time, and advantageously two guide elements are situated essentially opposite to one another and the at least one guide element is configured as screws that can be screwed into the frame in such a way that the free end of the screws extending through the frame engages in the groove of the base body for guiding purposes.

For precise positioning of the guide recess within the frame, the guide recess can be secured in the particular rotation position inside the frame by means of a stop element configured as a locking screw.

The angle of rotation o the guide recess inside the frame is restricted by the contact of the stud with the front surface on both sides of the aperture of the frame. Therefore the angle of aperture of the frame is advantageously selected so that it corresponds to the cutting angle that is to be executed, because the surgeon is ensured of performing a constantly exact sawing incision in a simple manner by means of the cutting positions to be adjusted rotatably in nailing positions.

The saw guide is fixed to the sawing material by at least one securing element, which according to a first embodiment of the invention, as a through-borehole configured on the frame and/or on the guide recess, especially on the base body, and into this borehole a holding pin, especially a wire, can be inserted, extending all the way into the sawing material. Advantageously the saw guide can be secured by means of at least two fixing elements on the sawing material in order to prevent turning of the saw guide.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, it is proposed that the fixing element is configured as a fixing pin that can be mounted on the frame and/or on the guide recess, especially on the base body, and fixable on the sawing material.

The determination of new cutting angles is facilitated by the fact that the frame is mounted removably on the handle, so that by simply exchanging the frame the saw guide can be outfitted with new angles of attack.

It is further proposed with the invention that the handling of the inventive saw guide is facilitated by the fact that the handle is configured as a rod-shaped handle that is turned to an angle to the sawblade guide element and which advantageously is at an angle to the sawblade guide element in both the horizontal and the vertical directions.

It is finally proposed with the invention that the surface of the handle, at least of the distal part of the handle, is configured as milled in order the improve grippability of the handle for the surgeon.

Additional characteristics and advantages of the invention are explained with the help of the related drawings, in which the embodiment of an inventive saw guide is illustrated in schematic, exemplary fashion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an overview of a saw guide according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a 90 degree side view of the saw guide from FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a cutout along the line III-III as in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a partially cut-out detailed schematic side view of a saw guide according to the invention with inserted saw blade.

The saw guide illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 consists essentially of a handle 1 for guiding and holding the saw guide as well as a sawblade guide element 2 mounted on the handle 1 for mounting and guiding a sawblade 3, as shown in FIG. 4. For improved ease of handling, the handle 1, as can be seen from the drawing, is turned at an angle to the sawblade guide element 2, and even twice in the illustrated embodiment, namely in the horizontal and the vertical direction with respect to the extension of the sawblade guide element 2. In addition, the surface of the handle 1, at least in the distal gripping area, is configured with a border in order to increase the grippability of the rod-shaped grip.

The sawblade guide element 2 consists in the illustrated embodiment of a frame 4, open on one side and shaped like a segment of a circle, and of a guide groove 5 rotatably inserted in a form-locking connection in the frame 4, which guide recess 5 is configured by an essentially circular-shaped base body 6 and of a stud 7 extending radially outward from the base body 6. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the aperture angle alpha of the frame 4 is less than 180 degrees so that the frame 4 surrounds the base body 6 of the guide recess 5 at least to the extent that the guide recess 5 is held inside the frame 4 and can be removed or inserted into it only in the vertical direction. In the illustrated embodiment of the frame 4 the aperture angle alpha is 60 percent.

For receiving and guiding the sawblade 3, the guide groove 5 has a slit 8 extending from the free end of the stud 7 to the middle of the base body 6. In order to be able also to insert a sawblade 3 with partially configured saw teeth 3 a, that is teeth protruding slightly laterally outward, into the slit 8 and to be able to guide it in this slit, the slit 8 in the lower area 8 a of the saw teeth 3 a is wider in configuration than in the upper area, as can be seen from the cutout view in FIG. 3.

The guide recess 5 can be guided and positioned with precision inside the frame 4 by means of at least one guide element 9 positioned on the frame 4 and at least one stop element 10 positioned on the frame 4. In the illustrated embodiment of the saw guide, there are two screws provided as guide elements 9 and situated opposite to one another on the frame 4 where they can be screwed into the frame 4; their free ends extending through the frame 4 engage in a groove 11 formed in the radial surrounding surface of the base body 6 in such a way that the guide recess 5, on the one hand, is held securely inside the frame 4 in vertical direction while, on the other hand, it remains rotatably mounted inside the frame 4.

While the guide elements 9 serve exclusively to mount the guide recess 5 rotatably inside the frame 4, the guide recess 5 is precisely positioned and immovably secured by means of the stop element 10 configured as a locking screw, and by means of this stop element 10 the guide recess 5 can be firmly clamped in its rotation position inside the frame 4. The angle of rotation of the guide recess 5 inside the frame 4 is restricted by the stud 7 coming in contact with the front ends 4 a of the frame 4, as can be seen from the illustration in FIG. 1, in which both end positions of the rotation area of the guide recess 5 are shown. The aperture angle alpha of the frame 4 is advantageously selected in such a way that it corresponds to the wedge-shaped saw cuts to be performed by the surgeon, so that, to select the correct cutting positions, the surgeon has only to rotate the guide recess 5 each time only until it comes in contact with one of the front ends 4 a of the frame 4, in order to select the exactly positioned placement for completing the sawing incision.

The illustrated saw guide is used as follows:

Before the operation the surgeon determines the size of the wedge of the sawing material to be resectioned and secures a frame 4 with a corresponding angle of aperture alpha of the handle 1. Then the surgeon positions the saw guide by means of the handle 1 on the sawing material, a bone 12, as shown in FIG. 4, and fixes the saw guide in the precise location on the bone 12 that is to be operated on, while the guide recess 5 happens to be in a nailing position in which the stud 7 is in contact with a front end 4 a of the frame 4.

To fix the saw guide on the sawing material (bone 12), the saw guide in accordance with the illustrated embodiment has two through-boreholes 13, which are configured, on the one hand, in the frame 4 and, on the other hand, in the middle of the base body 6 of the guide recess 5. Through these through-boreholes 13, holding pins, for instance wires 15, extending to the corresponding boreholes 14 in the bone 12, are inserted, and by means of these pins the saw guide can be fixed in an exact position on the bone 12 as seen in FIG. 4 in the example of the through-borehole 13 in the middle of the base body 6 of the guide recess 5.

It is also possible of course to position fixing stems, for instance, on the underside of the frame 4 and/or of the guide recess 5, which can penetrate into the sawing material.

After fixing the saw guide on the bone 12, the surgeon guides the sawblade 3 from the free end of the stud 7 into the slit 8 in such a way that the advantageously restricted saw teeth 3 a are mounted in the lower, broader area 8 a of the slit 8, as can also be seen from FIG. 4. The sawblade 3 is inserted so far into the slit 8 that it comes into contact with the wire 15. Now, by carrying out a sawing motion in the direction of the arrow 16, the surgeon can perform the first sawing cut of the wedge that is to be resectioned. Then the surgeon draws the sawing material 3 once more over the free end of the stud 7 out of the slit 8.

By opening the stop element 10 configured as a locking screw, the guide recess can now be rotated into the second nailing position shown with broken lines in FIG. 1, in which position the stud 7 comes into contact with the other surface 4 a of the frame 4. Now the sawblade 3 is again inserted into the slit 8 and the second saw cutting, which completes the wedge to be resectioned, is carried out.

After the sawblade 3 is pulled out of the guide recess 5 and the saw guide is released from the bone 12, the surgeon receives an exactly sawed wedge, whose spreading angle corresponds exactly to the angle of aperture alpha of the frame 4.

A saw guide of this design, in a simple and safe manner, permits an always exact guidance and positioning of the sawblade 3, so that the surgeon is ensured simple handling and can always perform an exact saw cutting.

In addition, the described saw guide is distinguished by the fact that it can be completely disassembled simply and quickly for cleaning purposes.

Illustration Key

-   1. Handle 1 -   2. Sawblade guide element -   3. Sawblade -   4. Frame -   4 a. Front end -   5. Guide recess -   6. Base body -   7. Stud -   8. Slit -   8 a. Lower area -   9. Guide element -   10. Stop element -   11. Groove -   12. Bone -   13. Through-borehole -   14. Borehole -   15. Wire -   16. Arrow (sawing motion) alpha Angle of aperture 

1. A saw guide for medicinal purposes, with a handle (1) and a sawblade guide element (2) mounted on the handle (1) to receive and guide a sawblade (3), and where the sawblade guide element (2) consisting of a frame (4) mounted on the handle (1) and a guide recess (5) for the sawblade (3), mounted rotatably in the frame (4), can be secured on the material being sawed and can be adjusted in the position fixed at various notches on the saw material, wherein the frame (4) is configured as a circle segment open on one side, into which the guide recess (5), which has an essentially circular-shaped base body (6), can be inserted in a form-locking connection and on the base body (6) a stud (7) is configured extending radially outward and at least one essentially vertical slit (8) for receiving the sawblade (3) is configured in the stud (7).
 2. A saw guide according to claim 1, wherein the slit (8) extends as far as the base body (6), preferably to the middle of the base body (6).
 3. A saw guide according to either of claims 1 or 2, wherein the slit (8) for receiving the sawblade (3) is configured as broader in the area (8 a) of the saw teeth (3 a) of the sawblade (3).
 4. A saw guide according to at least one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the frame (4) has an angle of aperture (alpha) of less than 180 degrees, preferably 60 degrees.
 5. A saw guide according to at least one of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least one guide element (9) and at least one stop element (10) are configured on the frame (4) to guide and position the guide recess (5).
 6. A saw guide according to claim 5, wherein in the peripheral surface of the base body (6) pointing radially outward, at least one groove (11) is configured to receive one guide element (9) at a time that is mounted on the frame (4)
 7. A saw guide according to claim 6, wherein two guide elements (9) are mounted essentially opposite to one another.
 8. A saw guide according to either of claims 6 or 7, wherein the at least one guide element (9) is configured as a screw that can be screwed into the frame (4) in such a way that the free end of the screw extending through the frame (4) engages in the groove (11) of the base body (6).
 9. A saw guide according to at lease one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the guide recess (5) can be secured in the particular rotation position inside the frame (4) by means of a stop element (10) configured as a locking screw.
 10. A saw guide according to at lease one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the rotation angle of the guide recess (5) inside the frame (4) is restricted by the stud (7) contacting both sides of the front end (4 a) of the opening of the frame (4).
 11. A saw guide according to at lease one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the guide element (2) can be secured by at least one fixing element on the saw material.
 12. A saw guide according to claim 11, wherein the fixing element is configured as a through-borehole (13) on the frame and/or on the guide recess (5), especially on the base body (6), into which borehole a stop pin, especially a wire (15), extending into the saw material, can be inserted
 13. A saw guide according to claim 11, wherein the fixing element is configured as a fixing pin mounted on the frame (4) and/or on the guide recess (5), especially on the base body (6), and which can be secured on the saw material.
 14. A saw guide according to at lease one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the frame (4) is mounted exchangeably on the handle (1).
 15. A saw guide according to at lease one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the handle (1) is configured as a rod-shaped grip that is at an angle to the sawblade guide element (2).
 16. A saw guide according to claim 15, wherein the handle (1) is at an angle to the sawblade guide element (2) both in the horizontal and in the vertical direction.
 17. A saw guide according to at lease one of claims 1 to 16, wherein the surface of the handle (1), at least the distal part of the handle (1), is configured as milled. 